樂邦文類 3.68

3.68

The standing images of the Three Sages appear in the Contemplation of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life Sūtra. Śākyamuni, the World-Honoured One, through his unconditioned great compassion, feeling deep pity for those in the Sahā world who had not yet been delivered, broadly opened the Pure Land Dharma door and intricately revealed the buddha-mindfulness samādhi. Intending to have their spirits dwell in the pure realm, he therefore directed them to fasten their thoughts upon sagely causes; hence the sixteen wondrous contemplations were established. Thus, the setting sun suspended like a hanging drum indicates its direction; great water congealing into ice portrays its jewelled ground; and the groves, springs, and multistoried pavilions are contemplated in sequence. All are adorned with hundreds of treasures, unequalled in the world; their brilliant light and hues are beyond fully naming. When he was just about to proclaim broadly the contemplation of that Buddha's bodily radiance, marks, and signs, as well as the hierarchical grades of the assembled multitude, suddenly in the open sky there appeared the Three Sages, causing Vaidehī to see them, which served as the occasion for her petition. The sūtra states: "The Buddha told Vaidehī, 'I will now analyze and explain for you the dharmas for eliminating suffering and distress.' As he spoke these words, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life stood in the air, with Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta attending and standing on his left and right. Vaidehī said to the Buddha, 'Now, through the Buddha's power, I have been able to see that Buddha and the two bodhisattvas. How should future sentient beings contemplate so that they may see them?' The Buddha told her to contemplate first the floral throne, next the physical image, and then the Buddha's body, his attendants on the left and right, and the disciples of the nine grades." The buddha-mindfulness samādhi was thereby made complete. Ever since Master Yuan of Mount Lu, monastic dwellings throughout the world have formed societies for fastening mindfulness upon the Pure Land and erected standing images of the Three Sages of Amitābha; this originated from this very sūtra and is clearly seen in this text. In Siming, at Mount Linggui in Cixi, the monk Jieshen of Fuyuan Hermitage, ever since entering the Way and receiving the full precepts, has constantly upheld this sūtra and has been devoted in intention to the pure karma for many years. Considering that cultivating oneself alone is not as good as guiding others, and practicing for a brief time is not as good as preserving it for the long term, he then raised funds among faithful donors and went in person to Qiantang, ordering craftsmen to carve standing images of the Three Sages. Journeying back and forth across a thousand miles of rivers and mountains, managing this over several years, he finally brought it to completion. Costing several thousand strings of cash, they were erected in the Repentance Hall of the Canon Courtyard at Kaiyuan Monastery south of the city. When the fourfold assembly gazed upon them, they marvelled at what they had never seen before. One day, taking a boat across the river, he arrived at Zhiyuan Hermitage, unpacked his robes to enter the summer retreat, burned incense, bowed his head, and requested an inscription. As I humbly share his dedication to this path, I gladly wrote it for him. Someone asked: "The sūtra says, 'The Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, are the dharmadhātu-body, entering into the mental thoughts of all sentient beings.' Now, carving wood into an image makes it out of mundane materials. Using this as a Buddha—I do not know whether that is permissible?" I replied: "The Buddha's body is markless, yet it is also not apart from marks. Because it is markless, among all mundane and supramundane dharmas, not a single one is the Buddha. Even the eighty-four thousand or thirty-two marks are themselves non-marks; how much more so other things? Hence it is said: 'Free from all marks is called the Buddhas.' Because it is not apart from marks, among all mundane and supramundane dharmas, not a single one is not the Buddha; how much more so the marks and signs? Hence it is said: 'One should know that all dharmas are themselves the Buddhadharma.' If one can realize that these marks are non-marks, and non-marks are marks, then mountains, rivers, lands, grasses, trees, fine dust motes, the four modes of birth, the six destinies, fluttering insects, and crawling creatures—none are not the substance of the dharmakāya of all Buddhas. How much more so casting metal, blending clay, carving wood, or painting and sculpting in order to adorn the marks and signs: could these alone not be the Buddha? All wise persons should contemplate this image: timber, plaster, cloth, glue, lacquer, gold, and pigments are brought together dependent on those many conditions. Seeking among the many conditions, they are all mundane things, each with its own name and substance; which of them is the Buddha? Yet conditions have no fixed mark, and things have no fixed name. Once designated as the Buddha, none among all the many conditions is not the Buddha's substance. How could one abandon this and seek a Buddha elsewhere? Therefore the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, 'Form and marks are not the Buddha; sounds and voices are likewise so. Yet not apart from forms and sounds does one behold the Buddha's supernatural powers.' If contemplated in this way, one does not abide in marks nor is one apart from marks; principle and phenomena are one and the same; the ultimate and conventional are non-dual. Although one is facing an image, this is truly seeing the Buddha. The sūtra says: 'If after the Buddha's passing, one erects physical images and supports them with offerings, this person will in a future life definitely attain the pure samādhi of buddha-mindfulness.' From this we know that for maintaining the Dharma in the Latter Age, the establishment of images is supreme; those of superior, middling, and inferior capacities all receive benefit. Thus, carving red sandalwood was first initiated by King Udayana in the Western Regions; white cotton cloth and pigments first flowed with Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna into the Eastern Xia. The transmissions of models having spread widely, auspicious responses have been especially numerous: living beings gaze at the marks and thereby know where to take refuge, and the Buddha's transformation rides the wind to abide long. Those with sincere minds realize the fundamental and directly attain the Supreme Vehicle; even raising a hand or bowing the head ultimately becomes a causal seed. Strictly evaluating their salvation of beings, how could it be fully told? Whoever enters this sanctuary should exercise all the more reverence and caution."